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The Holy Family in this year’s Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square. The Vatican unveiled the scene Dec. 24. (CNS/Carol Glatz)

VATICAN CITY — Vatican officials unveiled the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square today. Journalists were given a sneak peek a few days before to take come crowd-free shots.

The scene is more than 180 square yards and recreates the ancient Italian city of Matera and its famed “sassi” — cliff-clinging churches, buildings, streets and grottos carved out of the mountainside.

This was the first time the Vatican used a donated scene in the main square in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. Since 1982, when a creche was first erected in the square at the request of Blessed John Paul II, the Vatican covered the costs of creating and building a different scene each year using larger-than-life 19th-century figures.

In fact, what’s noticeable different is the size. The actual scene is smaller and the figures are barely a foot tall. There is a huge amount of detail, but you need to view it through your zoom lens to really see it.

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Christ was conceived in Nazareth, he is a Nazarene. His mother must have been a woman of color and not Caucasian.Nazareth was in central Africa. Get an old map and look it up. Mary’s son must have been brown or black. I’m getting a Nativity scene with brown or dark brown people next year. It’s more authentic. Also, when I was in the 6th grade, my teacher said “never write Xmas, you’re taking Christ out of Christmas” Since then, I’ve written Cmas, and that was over 50 years ago. Pass it on…